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The Development and Prospect of New Technology in Modern distance education
Authors: Yunguang Chen, Xue DongJiangxi
Normal University, College of Communications
Modern education has seen a rapid growth in the number of people who seek independent study methods, especially
while carrying out various other roles in society
[1]
and there has also been an exponential increase in the technological
methods used to deliver education. Modern distance education requires a ceaselessly learning society while teaching
needs the use of a lot of resources, e.g. the internet and different gadgets, which can make the learning experience for the
student more interactive and interesting.
The shortcomings of distance education are poor quality of images and interactivity, the use of resources which are not
organized and problems regarding minimal guidance approach
[2]
. However, there’s hope of a better prospect for
distance education with the fast-development of the 4 new technologies: Data Mining, Cloud Computing, Internet of
Things (IOT) & Triple-Play.
New technology has been the critical element in developing modern age distance education
Data mining: The process in which new technologies are being used to extract the most important information from the
large databases which accumulate over a period of time. It analyzes historical data and reveals hidden patterns, which
ultimately can analyse information valuable for the future. This enables teachers to fetch useful data on the
performances of students so that they could tailor a more individualistic approach. Decision tree algorithm has been
used to scrutinize the curricula and find the most popular courses. Data mining and analysis could reveal a heap of vital
information on improving distance education quality in a short span of time.
Cloud computing (Source: Wikipedia)
The Cloud Computing Technology: It allows the users to gain access to a variety of applications which aids them in the
storage and analysis of a certain set of information. In distance education, it enables the educators to use the wide array
of resources, compute data sets and also transmit data successfully. Many educational institutions could form a
centralized management system and reduce redundancy of data while providing the teachers with a huge pool of
resources and methods quickly.
The Internet of Things Technology: Through the use of this perceptual recognition, the course can evolve with the
student [3]. Communication between the educator and educated is a key factor for this technology to be successful in
implementation [4].
Triple play (Source: Wikipedia)
The Triple Play Technology: Regarded as one of the best method to implement distance learning is the interactive, realtime streaming of videos, using telecommunication. A 3-screen interaction is one of the best advantages that triple play
technology offers for distance learning. This seems very interesting to me. It gives us a chance to correct misconceptions
on the spot. Instead of being physically present next to each other we could educate by sharing screens using a myriad of
graphics.
What my view of this article is that we could integrate most of these technologies to our capstone project since we do
have access to advanced technologies. With the fast-paced information technology which has opened up many
opportunities, distance learning could be used for a lot of the fields which still have classroom approach.
References:

[1] “…substantial benefits to the learners: namely, students can choose when and how they will learn, enabling
them to carry on with various other roles in society.” –Sage Brianna O’Toole

[2] “…distance learning can also present some of the very problems that we find with the minimal guidance
approach to teaching. Unless students actively take advantage of every resource provided to them in this online
format, it may be easy for students to fall behind or simply to lose interest or motivation to continue.” -Sage
Brianna O’Toole

[3] “…evolves with the student, curtailing to how the student learns.” –Tiffany Jasmine Robinson

[4] “…communication is important and the key role to many collaborations; if they’re not going to response of
be involved, then it will be an issue. In comparison students who will be spending their time working together
face-to-face will need to consider the amount of time it will take to meet with their group.” – Alice Kim